Electrophone System

The Electrophone system was a distributed audio
system which operated in the UK between 1895 and 1926. This system
relayed live theatre and music hall shows and, on Sundays, live sermons from
churches. This was a subscription service and users would firstly ask
the operator to connect them to Electrophone. The Electrophone
switchboard operator would ask them which theatre they wanted to connect to.
For opera, they would be connected to the Royal Opera House at Covent
Garden.

They would then use the supplied receivers to listen to the service.
Users would invite friends around to listen and in one of the pictures below
there is a stand with four receivers.

At £5 a year, the service was not cheap but you were provided with two
receivers. Extra receivers would cost an extra £1 each.

You could also pay via a coin-in-the-slot machine but if they wanted the
service at home they needed to pay a subscription.

The system operated with rows of microphones, installed in the theatres
in front of the footlights. When installed in Churches the microphones
were sometimes disguised as bibles.

By 1908 Electrophone had around 600 subscribers and carried performances
from 30 theatres and churches. During the First World War,
recuperating servicemen were given free access to Electrophone services.

Other European countries also used similar systems.

The fore runners of radio, these systems became redundant after the
introduction of radio.